Medals link to desert legend

May 14 2007 By Jasbir Authi, Birmingham Mail

MEDALS with a link to the legendary Lawrence of Arabia have been snapped up by a Midland collector.

The First World Wal campaign medals were issued to a soldier who later served as a personal assistant to TE Lawrence, who shot to fame for his involvement with the Arab revolt against the occupying Turks which started in 1916.

Military enthusiast Paul Langham, who bought the medals, said the soldier was a Mr E Allbright, who was born in Birmingham city centre and worked for Lawrence in Dorset.

"I bought three medals from an antique fair in Derby," said 42-year-old Paul, a mechanical engineer from Burntwood.

"Mr Allbright got these medals before working for Lawrence. He would have wanted an ex-military guy for the job and these medals would have been with him."

The medals were won by Mr Allbright when he served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in France and Italy as a teenager.

He then went to work for Lawrence as a military manservant, or batman, in the early 1920s.

Mr Allbright spoke of his memories of Lawrence when he was interviewed by the Birmingham Mail in March 1957.

Then aged 68 and living in a flat in Trinity Road, Birchfields.

"There was an air of mystery about Lawrence," he said. "We got on well together and would often go into Dorchester to do the shopping. Lawrence would write for many hours but never talked about his exploits."

Lawrence gave his former batman a silver cup which he used for communion wine. Mr Allbright in turn passed it to a chaplain when he later found work as a warden at Winson Green prison, Birmingham.